The Roots of Darkness
by Zeer
Summary: Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuuga are prisoners of Orochimaru's evil. Witness their trials and sacrifices as they try to survive the darkness.
1. Death's Prologue

**Sudden inspiration has struck me to write this new prologue (while at the same time continuing with **_**How it Feels to Hatch**_**) let me know how yall think and feel on it. Hope this random thought is something worthwhile!**

**This story will take place during the period Naruto is in training with Jiraiya.**

_**The Roots of Darkness **_

_**Chapter One: Death's Prologue **_

**OOOOOO**

The day was like any other day in the village of Konoha. The sun was bright, the town was bustling, and the ninja stationed to guard the village were bored as hell. Most notably, the shinobi guarding its very front gates. The Chuunin Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.

"Damn it all!" Izumo suddenly declared into the air, making his partner jump slightly.

"Would you get a grip?" Kotetsu snapped, rubbing his eyes after being rudely awakened, "I swear I was having the _best _dream about that girl from that Ichiraku bar…"

"Oh save your freakin' wet dreams," his friend shot back, his gaze still fixed at the sky, "I swear if I sit here doing nothing for one more day I'm going to lose it!"

"You mean more than you already have?" Kotetsu asked, leaning back into his chair as well.

"I said shut-it!"

"Well you _are _right," his fellow chuunin returned after a moment of silence, "It has been really quiet around here for awhile, almost suspiciously so…"

Izumo looked over at him hopefully, "Something to report to the Hokage about?"

"Of course not!" Kotetsu exclaimed, completely aghast at the mere thought, "She's already busy enough as it is, I'm sure she's just looking for an excuse to bash our heads in the moment we walk through that door, besides, it's only a feeling."

"Fine," Izumo said with a sigh, sinking into his chair, then, a moment later, his eyes brightened, "Hey, what if-?"

But his new idea was cut off by a loud and very close whimpering noise. In an instant the two chuunin were out of their seats, Izumo even leaping over the table they had been sitting behind.

"Halt, intruder, in the name of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" the brown haired shinobi declared, brandishing a kunai for safe measure.

"Uh, Izumo?" Kotetsu called, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention, "No one is there."

Indeed, as the two ninja stood they saw no enemy shinobi, no traveling merchants, not even some poor orphaned child; the wide dirt road was barren of any life, like it usually was. With another deep sigh Izumo slipped his weapon back into the pouch he had retrieved it from.

"Sorry, guess I got caught up in the moment," he said as he began to turn around, but even before the two could start walking back the whimper called out again.

Kotetsu and Izumo turned back, now focusing their attention on the ground at their feet, where a small, badly beaten white puppy was laying. Their eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"Is that…Akamaru?"

**OOOOOO**

Tsume and Hana Inuzuka sat quietly side by side in the hospital's waiting room. They spoke no words between each other the entire three hours that they waited, though in each of their heads whirled a storm of thoughts and emotions, both knowing their lives were going to change by the end of this day.

"Hana and Tsume Inuzuka?" a nurse called quietly, interrupting the two shinobi from their brooding, "The Hokage will see you now."

With simple nods from both they silently rose and walked slowly past the doors and down the long hallway, using their keen noses to pinpoint both the Hokage's strong chakra signals…and Akamaru's blood.

When the two finally entered a room near the end of the expansive hallway they were greeted with the sight of Akamaru's unmoving body being covered by the white hospital sheet, Sakura did so with closed eyes.

Emotion finally hit the two women with full force. Tsume gasped, the sadness constricting her throat.

"No…" Hana Inuzuka breathed, the first of the hot tears spilling down her tattooed cheeks.

"I'm so sorry," Tsunade said, regret filling the entirety of her voice as she looked straight into the two's faces, "But there was nothing we can do, Akamaru had been poisoned long before my chuunin discovered him, the poison was already well through his system by the time we received him."

Hana and Tsume stood there in a deep silence as their grief washed over them, consumed them. Tsume looked up at the Hokage, her eyes boring no tears but a rage that now overwhelmed all else.

"My son…" She breathed, her overly large canines bearing through her red lips, "Where is my son?"

**OOOOOO**

The stone cell was dark and cold and, at least to Kiba Inuzuka, stank like death. His sharp eyes pierced through the dark easily though, giving him ample view of the steel bars that held him in the room, but it was his nose that gave him the image of the sinister chakra that surrounded it and combined with it. Even if his arms weren't bound against the stone walls he doubted his Piercing Fang technique could penetrate chakras of _that _level.

He then heard a groan from beside him.

"Oi bug boy, you finally awake?" he called to his companion.

"Hn." Shino Aburame replied; his own shackles clanking together as he moved his arms, "What has happened?"

"The hell if I know," Kiba retorted, looking over to his friend, there was a bad looking bruise decorating the majority of his forehead, his head band was missing, "One second I'm about tear off the head of that mist shinobi, the next, I'm in this cell."

"It appears we were out maneuvered," Shino stated, before gasping in pain.

"You alright?" his friend quickly asked, not used to hearing the stoic teen express his injury in such a way before.

"I'm…fine." The Aburame said slowly, appearing to concentrate heavily on something, a moment latter he was pulling at his chains, his screams of agony echoing off the walls of the cell.

"Shino!" Kiba exclaimed tugging at his own chains to get to him, "What the hell is going on!?"

"My…insects…" his quiet friend gasped, even his breathing seemed to pain him now, "I can't release them…"

Kiba's eyes widened, now things were getting bad.

"Well, well, it seems the Konoha rats are awake."

Kiba and Shino looked up to the bars of the cell to see a lone figure standing behind them.

"You!" Kiba shot, faintly recognizing the round glasses and long white hair from his time during the chuunin exams.

"Kabuto Yakushi." Shino muttered, his pain still easily heard in his voice.

The man smiled, a cold, evil smile that shook Kiba to the very core, but he quickly hid it with a growl.

"Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame," Kabuto muttered, still smiling as he looked back and forth between the two, "Yes, Orochimaru will have plenty of fun with the two of you."

**OOOOOO**

**Yup that's the end for now, but again it's just the prologue! Review and let me know how yall think of it!**


	2. Experiments

**Just got random inspiration to write the second chapter of this after reading a bunch of Shino related fics, hope yall enjoy it.  
**

_**The Roots of Darkness**_

_**Chapter 2: Blind Blood**_

XXXXXXX

Shibi Aburame felt emotionless, more so than he did on a regular basis. Even here, in the meeting hall of the Aburame clan, surrounded by his family and brethren, he never felt more alone.

"_A tragedy has befallen us this day!" an Aburame shinobi had shouted, bursting into the confides of the Aburame clan, interrupting the everlasting quiet of the hallways and corridors with his cries, "Our clan heir, Shino Aburame, has been reported as a prisoner of the dreaded Orochimaru!"_

That had been this morning, soon after the dog companion of Kiba Inuzuka had been found dying of a poisonous infection. The Hokage had quickly analyzed the drug and found it to have the same basic qualities of the corrupted sannin's handiwork, word quickly spread from there.

Shibi stood up from his position at the head of all of his clan members, the same people his son was destined to look over someday.

"My brothers," the clan head spoke, his voice neither loud or sorrow-filled, but each and every clan member could hear the empty hole that had dug itself into their leader, making his words feel vacant and hollow, "My Aburame clan, please hear me speak, listen to my beetle's song, and understand what we must do."

As one the Aburame clan closed their eyes behind their glasses and opened their minds to the 'song' of their leader.

For several minutes the room was silent save for the soothing buzzing of beetles, their chitters and clicks echoed in the massive room, the noise all coming from the body of Shibi Aburame as he stood before his clan, his beetles singing the words he did not have the will to speak. Sharing with his clan the tragedy of his missing son, their future heir, expressing his sorrow through his beetles, something that had become near impossible to do through simple words; for any of the Aburame.

When the song was finished Shibi opened his eyes, knowing the rest of the clan did so at the exact same time, fists clenched deep inside their coat pockets, brows furrowed over their glasses, and their beetles buzzing excitedly beneath their skin.

"Now you understand," Shibi spoke, his hands raised from his sides, reaching to the sky, as one the clan joined him, twenty-seven pairs of arms joined their leader, "We fight for our future."

Beetles by the thousands suddenly began seeping from the sleeves of the Aburame's, their beetles calling and screeching, the sound filling the massive room like a growing storm. As the black cloud of life grew above their master's down below remained stoic and still, hands still in the air and hidden eyes still trained on their leader.

"We find Shino Aburame," The empty Aburame called, his own beetles swirled over his head, mixing in with the trillions of others in the air, "And eliminate the one holding him captive, the sannin traitor, Orochimaru!"

**OOOOOOOO**

"This is complete and utter bullshit!" Shino Aburame heard his friend holler in the darkness, "What the hell do they plan to do with us?"

Shino didn't bother to say anything back. For one it didn't sound like Kiba was asking him directly, and two, even if he was Shino couldn't honestly say he'd have anything intelligent to say back. So instead of listening to his friend's anger he focused on what was truly troubling him. His pain.

The first incident had taken him by surprise; he had tried to summon his beetles only to have incredible agony as his reply. After Kabuto had came and went Shino began testing the strange phenomenon, using his will power to try and summon minuscule amounts of his beetles at a time, it still hurt more than anything he had ever felt before but it was just enough for him to hold in and keep from alerting his cellmate again.

After an hour or so Shino had to finally give in to the pain and stop. He rested his back against the cold stone wall, letting it sooth his hot, sweaty body. His muscles pulsed with pain as he tried to relax, the pull of the chains on his wrists and ankles didn't allow him much room and if he even flinched the pain would flare up again, racing through his already sore body.

But what is this pain? Shino asked himself over and over again. It kept him from summoning his beetles, that was obvious, but how did it work? Was it a brain signal? The nerves in his muscles? What was keeping him from his beetles?

"Shino?" a voice suddenly spoke, pulling Shino from his musings, "Shino are you alright?"

"I'm fine Kiba," he replied, turning to where he thought his companion was chained, but he lacked the canine boy's keen vision so all he could see was the endless darkness, "Just focus on conserving your strength."

"Yeah, like _that_ will do us any good," Kiba snorted in the dark, Shino heard him rustle his chains, "I didn't get a chance to tell you before, but there's some kind of chakra barrier inside the bars of this cell, it's strong, real strong, and, unless my nose is mistaking me, which it rarely does, that same kind of chakra is part of the chains that are binding us."

"It seems Orochimaru does not leave anything to chance," Shino mused after hearing this.

"Just our freaking luck."

**OOOOOOO**

The pair remained silent soon after, letting time slip by them, knowing all they could do was wait to see what fate had in store for them next.

After a time Shino continued his bodily experiments yet they continued to produce empty pain, an internal suffering that seemed to erupt from nowhere, its sole purpose to make the shinobi completely and utterly useless.

"Kiba," Shino spoke after again failing to produce any results, "Test your senses, does anything seem off about them?"

"Off about what?" Kiba replied groggily, almost like he and been asleep.

"The cell bars and our chains, the ones you mentioned earlier," Shino said quickly, slight irritation in his voice.

"Oh yeah, right! Let me check…huh…not even a whiff of anything crafty…just enough power to send chills down my spine, hey Akamaru did you…"

Suddenly a new silence filled the room, a silence that sunk into Shino's body like a cold ghost. He slowly closed his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"Hey Akamaru, are you nearby boy? Akamaru….?" Shino faintly heard the sound of rustling chains before-

"AKAMARU!" Kiba shouted at the top of his lungs, "AKAMARU! AKAMARU!"

"Kiba, please!" Shino hissed in between his partner's shouting, "Akamaru isn't here and all of your shouting is not going to bring him here, I'm sure they have him here somewhere, they just decided to keep him from you as a precaution."

It grew quiet again after that and Shino almost believed that Kiba had not heard him until he heard the sound of rustling chains again.

"Yeah…yeah your right Shino, they must have him somewheres else," he then heard Kiba chuckle a little, "They…they were just afraid that we would bust out of here if we were together! Because…because we beat anyone…and…and anything that stands in our way! We're a team…we're a great team…"

"We're a great team too Kiba," Shino assured, turning back to where he believed his friend was, "You, me, Hinata and Akamaru, we've been in situations far worse than this, we will get through this and we will be free."

Kiba chose not to reply to this and Shino decided that he had spoken more than he liked to. Soon the silence once again sank into the darkness of their cell.

**OOOOOOO**

Shino awoke sometime later to the sound of loud footsteps approaching their cell. The Aburame's entire body ached after sleeping for hours chained against a wall and he even heard his neck crack whenever he turned to where he believe Kiba also dozed.

"Kiba," Shino hissed, "Wake up…we have a visitor."

"Huh…what?" he heard his friend reply groggily, "The hell you talkin' about?"

"Well good morning, Kiba, Shino." A man said, and although Shino couldn't see him he recognized his voice instantly.

"Good morning, Kabuto."Shino replied, eyes leering behind his glasses.

"What? Kabuto!?" Kiba exclaimed, apparently waking up fully now, "You low life bastard! What the hell are you doing here? And where's Akamaru!?"

"Oh believe me, Inuzuka, if I told you that you wouldn't have the correct mind set to do as our Lord Orochimaru pleases," Kabuto explained, chuckling softly, "But I will tell you this, your little pup is best left forgotten."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" the dog boy shot, Shino heard him pull violently at his chains, "I asked where my damn dog is! And you better tell me right now before I bust outa these chains and-!"

What happened next would be something that would stay in Shino's mind for the rest of his life. The room suddenly became much brighter, illuminated by a blue light. But what sunk deep into the Aburame's mind were the screams coming from his closest friend, he could see the Inuzuka, for the electricity racing around his body was powerful enough to illuminate the entire cell. He was pulling at his metallic constraints with all his might, screaming for all he was worth as the static consumed his body.

Shino looked over to Kabuto; the traitor was also staring at Kiba's writhing body only he had a cold smile on his face as he held what looked like a remote control, his finger pressing tightly on a button.

"That ought to keep him mouth shut for awhile," Kabuto muttered, releasing the button. Darkness crept swiftly back into the cell as the static ceased its torture on the boy.

"Kiba?" Shino called softly, "Kiba…?"

"Don't worry, your friend is still alive," he heard Kabuto say, a few seconds later Shino heard the deep creak of a door being opened…their cell door, "He just lacks the ability to move or speak at the moment."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Kabuto repeated, and suddenly Shino felt a weight fall on his shoulders and when Kabuto spoke again the Aburame flinched at the closeness of his voice, "Because you are Konoha scum that are in the captive of our Lord Orochimaru, what exactly did you expect?"

Before Shino could reply Kabuto suddenly sent his knee into the boy's stomach, making the Aburame gasp in pain as the wind instantly felt his lungs. Yet even as he doubled over in pain Kabuto quickly grabbed his neck and pushed his back against the wall once more.

"What…" Shino gasped as blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, "What have you done with…Hinata?"

In response Kabuto just snickered, in the darkness he pulled out a simple syringe, behind him two sound ninja's appeared and made their way to the semi unconscious Kiba.

"Goodnight, Shino," Kabuto whispered before jamming the needle into the Aburame's neck, Shino's body jerked in pain for a moment before falling limp, Kabuto laughed again before beginning to unshackle him, "I look forward to experimenting with you…"

**OOOOOOOO**

**To Be Continued….**

**OOOOOOOO**

**Sorry again for the shortness, kinda playing around with the beginnings of this story a bit before divulging too far. Hope yall are enjoying it so far though!**


	3. Blind Blood

_**The Roots of Darkness**_

_**Chapter 3: Blind Blood**_

**OOOOOOOOO**

Hiashi Hyuga sat motionless in his dark bedroom. With hands folded at his lap he gazed into nothingness, thinking nothing, feeling nothing.

"Father?"

The quiet, hesitant voice stirred the shinobi. His blank eyes focused on the small girl standing in his doorway.

"Hanabi." Hiashi greeted but said nothing more. The girl stood silently for a few moments before taking slow steps into the room.

"Neji and his team have just left to join the search party," Hanabi announced softly, to which her father only nodded, "The Hokage sent several of our other clan members to merge with other groups as well."

"It is nice to hear the Hokage deciding to take members of my own clan without first consulting with me," Hiashi said evenly, "Tell her to send my clan the best of my regards."

"She only did what she thought was best," Hanabi said quickly, "She said when dealing with Orochimaru we shouldn't take any chances…"

"And _I_ am considered a chance?" Her father cut in, his voice rising slightly. When Hanabi didn't reply Hiashi leered his menacing blank eyes, "And since when have you been the Hokage's errand girl my child?"

Hanabi noticeably flinched at that and her head lowered, refusing to look upon her father. "I…I am just really worried about Hinata and her friends…Tsunade let me send our clan messages so I could also know more about what's going on…"

"You are becoming weak Hanabi," Hiashi scolded instantly, "Worrying about your sister won't bring her back, the most you can do for _anyone_ right now is continuing your training and quit involving yourself in matters that do not concern you."

There was a strong silence in the room for a long stretch of time before Hanabi finally bowed.

"Yes father." She said quickly before exiting Hiashi's room, never once looking back. As soon as she had gone Hiashi's eyes lost its sternness and once again drifted into its usual nothingness.

He saw nothing. Thought nothing. And felt nothing.

**OOOOOOO**

"Dear Hyuga child if you keep squirming like that you will force me to poison you again and you and I both know that is _not_ something you want to go through again."

Despite the pleasant way at which he warned Hinata Hyuga could still feel the chills run down her back. She remembered all too well what her torturer's poison could do.

"All I am asking is to have a closer look at those pretty little eyes of yours," It continued, the monster that had been working on her had lost all traces of being human as far as Hinata could tell, "I promise it will be over before you know it and then you can be reunited with your boring little friends."

Hinata couldn't help but have her breath catch at that. One of her recent injections had taken away vision temporarily, her torturer said it was to help her relax, that seeing what he/she actually looked like would force it to use the poison to slip her into unconsciousness. It was the only injection Hinata felt grateful for.

Yet now that she was viewing a blank dark world she felt her mind wander more than it usually did. Between the painful poisons and injections the young Hyuga girl found herself thinking about _everything_, her family, her friends, the village, her missions, namely the mission that had landed her in this situation.

They had been sent to track down rouge Mist shinobi and either kill or subdue them in the rice country. It was one of their first A rank missions and they were all excited, even Shino. They all left as a team: Kiba, Shino, Kurenai, and herself. Once they hit the borders of the rice country they had split into two teams as there had been reports of Mist shinobi in two locations, Kiba and Shino went one way, she and Kurenai the other.

"Now brace yourself princess," It spoke, breaking Hinata from her thoughts, "As you remember this procedure will hurt viciously at first so if you have thought of a way to keep your mind off of the pain I'd suggest you start thinking about it now…"

From experience Hinata also knew that It began its torture as soon as It had finished warning her so even before he finished his sentence the young Hyuga girl found herself thinking of her fellow shinobi, of her teammates and sensei, desperately hoping that they would be alright, that they weren't trapped like she was.

A second later she felt razor like blades sink into the top of her skull and despite her best efforts the young Hyuga girl screamed, screamed for all she was worth.

**OOOOOOOO**

Hours later Hinata found herself lying on the cold ground of her cell. At first she used to be chained up in the small space but after the 'experiments' her torturer's guards discovered that she was too weak to move on her own anyways. Plus the creature always injected her one final time with a substance that kept her from using her Byakugan, as doing so would cause her severe pain. So during these few hours she simply laid out on her stomach, as she discovered this was usually the least painful position, and simply rested. The pain was too great to allow her to think clearly on anything so she simply stayed still and felt the throbbing in her body. It was mostly concentrated on her head this time where she knew she now sported a trail on semi deep holes concealed by a cloth headband.

The thing that worked on her always healed her wounds when she came back for more experiments but It had soon confessed that it enjoyed seeing her with It's 'mark'. It also stated that sleeping with the pain would help her get used to feeling it.

"As long as you remain alive here your pain will be everlasting," It had said when she was first brought to him, crying and scared, "You must learn to make pain your friend, your supporter, your lover, your _everything_."

After that moment Hinata learned that this creature to be a sadistic monster whose only real joy was to see others suffer and to profit from their suffering. But she also learned that he always told the truth. This made her really consider the possibility that she really was going to see Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai again, though she prayed that they weren't going through the same thing as her.

A few hours later the pain had finally subsided enough to allow the young Hyuga girl to sleep. As her weary body and mind drifted off she counted how many days she had been in this situation, simply counting the number of times she had been thrown in this cell to sleep. It was now day seven.

**OOOOOOOO**

"Wake up you Konoha rat; the master has a surprise for you."

Hinata could barely register who was even talking before she felt a strong grip grab her by the arm and pull her straight up from the ground. All at once Hinata's weariness left her as a sudden sharp pain erupted in her neck.

"A little gift from the master before you see your surprise," the man continued, despite the severe darkness of the cell Hinata could now recognize him as the Sound shinobi that usually woke her up and dragged her to the monster, "It's a special sedative that will keep you awake and active for the day, but I should warn you not to try any of your shinobi tricks, this shot has also sent a dormant virus into your system that will awaken should you perform any… above civilian level tricks."

Hinata heard the man but she did not reply to him. She had learned to hold her tongue when in his presence after he beat her severely the first night when she began begging him to see her friends and family again. This was a monster that despised weakness…in a way he reminded Hinata of her father…or more accurately the demon living inside of her father.

"I will assume that you heard me rat," the Demon spoke, now dragging Hinata by the arm that he still held tightly, "And well if you didn't… well it would be fun to watch you scream."

XXXXXXX

"Ah my dear little Hyuga pet, it's so good to see you again," her tormenter greeted when the Demon shoved her through the door, "I hope Shimitsu didn't treat you _too_ roughly today."

Hinata didn't reply and kept her eyes firmly glued to the ground, not that it really mattered where she looked in the things room; it was nearly pitch dark as usual except for a single candle that was left burning in a far corner. Apparently the near blinding darkness didn't bother this creature.

"Now, I'm sure he told you the dangers of that sedative he gave you," the thing continued after Hinata refused to talk, "So when you see what I'm about to show you I ask that you do not react in any way that could affect the virus…"

At this warning Hinata felt her blood run cold. Her tormentor had given her similar warnings like this before and it had_ always_ ended up being a good thing that it did. It was a cruel creature, but an honest one.

"Are you ready Hyuga? I'm afraid I cannot proceed until I get a verbal conformation from you…which I expect to receive one way or another…"

Hinata felt the cold shakes nearly consume her frail body. Her tormentor may be heartless and cold but he never struck her as a violent man, yet it was the way he spoke the threat underneath his words that shook Hinata to her core. His unheard words spoke of a monster that has taken lives before, has tortured beings until their life has been forever snuffed out…and has never once cared in its life.

"Y-yes…" Hinata's voice croaked out after almost a week of not using it. She was forced to hug her body tight as another wave of terrified chills ran down her back. The silence in the dark that followed afterwards only made matters worse.

"…very well Hyuga."

An instant later a torch in the now revealed back of the room ignited with life. At first Hinata had to shield her now sensitive eyes to the sudden light but eventually her eyes adjusted, eventually she turned and saw what she was meant to see.

"I felt it was necessary that you should see this," the creature spoke as it watched Hinata, watched as her pale eyes grew wide with horror, watched as her tears silently streamed down her face, "That you should know that you now have one less teammate to worry about."

Hinata fell to her knees a sharp painful jolt raced up her body at the contact with the hard cold ground, but she barely noticed. Even through her aching sobs she could still see, see the lifeless body of Kurenai lying still on the ground with blank eyes seemingly staring straight at her former student and friend.

"Genjutsu masters have such a weak immune system," the monster continued, almost regretfully, "She had an allergic reaction to my first sedative, it was so sudden and unexpected that even _I_ couldn't save her…it's a shame really…she had such promising techniques…"

At this Hinata found the near impossible will to turn away from her lifeless mentor to see her heartless tormentor. He was a giant, heavyset man who was clad in only a long white lab coat and round spectacles. He looked at her with no true emotion on his fat face and as Hinata stared back she felt a rare feeling of anger and hatred begin to bubble in her stomach.

"I would really advise against that," the large creature warned as Hinata slowly stood took a step forward, towards him, "You remember what could-."

"You killed her…" Hinata spoke, her voice hoarse and pain riddled, "She was my mentor…my friend…the only…the only one who really cared about me who…who believed in me when no one else would…and you killed her…you killed her over an experiment…"

Kurenai's murderer looked like he was about to say something but then stopped, he glanced from Kurenai to Hinata and simply sighed.

"I guess there is no point then."

Hinata charged at him with all the strength in her body, gentle fist technique already ready to land the killing blow before she spoke the word.

"BYAKUGAN!"

As soon as she felt the new power fill her body she felt a sudden, dark presence erupt inside as well. Hinata was a mere inch from landing her attack before she found herself rolling on the ground, tearing at the clothes on her body, all the while screaming for mercy.

"I warned you foolish child," the creature spoke simply looking down at the girl writhing at his feet, "All you did was help serve the master's purpose."

He was about to turn away when he felt a strong grip on his ankle. Surprised, he looked over his shoulder to see that Hinata had stopped screaming, although her body was shaking controllably.

"You…you…killed…her…" the Hyuga wheezed, her grip quickly loosing strength. Yet before her hand could fall her tormentor suddenly had it in one of his giant fists, his huge body now kneeling before her fallen one.

"No child…" It spoke, raising her now useless arm a little in the air, he slowly produced an injection needle from the other hand, "_You _did."

He then sunk the needle deep into Hinata's forearm and at once the tormented, broken, and scared little girl fell into her first relaxing sleep in a long long time.

She saw nothing. Thought nothing. And felt nothing.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
